Séance (Part Two)

"Number Four, Dragon!!!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Ino unleashed his strongest killing move against Toji's body, whose mere presence had already scared him into wetting himself.

[Dragon] was the most destructive of his four Auspicious Beasts, and the strongest.

But before he could even take the opening stance for a strike capable of instantly killing a grade-one sorcerer, Toji Fushiguro's body had already flashed in front of him.

A single finger effortlessly plucked the mask off Ino's head, followed by a storm of fists...

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud-!

Blood splattered across the edge of the helipad.

As he lost consciousness, the battered, swollen-faced Ino was tossed to the edge of the rooftop like a stray dog, awaiting Ogami's judgment.

Since Ino possessed a technique similar to her Séance Technique, Ogami had no intention of killing him immediately.

She would first collect some of Ino's bodily tissue, so that after killing him later, she could use those mediums to summon his abilities and turn him into an expendable combat asset.

For now, though, her greatest concern should have been the disappearance of the veil...

"Kurisaka failed. What do we do now... Grandma...?"

Her grandson's body began twitching unnaturally, but Ogami, immersed in the joy of victory and a successful summoning, noticed nothing.

"Satoru Gojo is gone. This is our best chance."

"Go down there and kill every sorcerer you see."

Ogami's reply received no enthusiastic response from her grandson.

Instead, a rough, furious male voice rumbled out:

"Who do you think you're ordering around, you old hag?!"

Toji Fushiguro turned toward her with a vicious expression. Not even the faintest trace of her grandson's presence or information remained in him.

He had clearly seized control of the body and devoured her grandson's soul!!!

"How could this happen?! I deliberately left out the soul's information!!"

"I only summoned the body's information! There shouldn't be any backlash!!"

To prevent situations where the body's original owner forcibly took possession, Ogami had always rarely summoned the soul information of powerful individuals.

As long as she did not introduce the soul, the medium could use the other person's bodily techniques and strength without being constrained by their consciousness...

But now...

"Summoned... So that's what happened..."

Toji Fushiguro flexed his fists, apparently grasping his current situation.

To answer Ogami's questions, he took it upon himself to give her a lesson:

"My body is pretty special."

"Looks like this body's [soul] lost to my [body]."

Toji Fushiguro's voice was calm, as though he were explaining something perfectly obvious.

But to Ogami, this was utterly impossible...

"Kill sorcerers, huh..."

"You're a sorcerer too, aren't you?"

The killing intent in his eyes spilled out, and Toji Fushiguro appeared before Ogami almost instantaneously.

His five fingers thrust forward like a blade. Toji Fushiguro went straight for the kill, aiming directly at her heart.

"Enough."

An overwhelming force clamped down on the wrist of the knife-hand aimed at Ogami's heart, and the ground beneath Toji Fushiguro's feet cracked under the pressure.

Ogami and Toji both looked up at this third-party "intruder" in confusion.

"Get out of the way first."

A side kick slammed into Toji Fushiguro's abdomen. Cursed energy charged with lightning numbed his torso and sent him flying to the edge of the helipad, where he dropped to one knee.

Holding his staff in his right hand and clenching his left into a fist, Hajime Kashimo stood in front of Ogami with a stern expression.

"Old hag, your technique summons the dead, right?"

"If you don't want to die, hurry up and summon this guy's soul information too."

Hajime Kashimo's words were an order, leaving Ogami no room to think or refuse.

Toji Fushiguro had already forced himself upright despite the tingling numbness in his limbs and was staggering toward them.

One defining trait of the Heavenly Restriction Tyrant was his complete lack of cursed energy.

While this trait greatly enhanced its bearer's physical strength and prevented a Domain Expansion from selecting and targeting him, it also meant Hajime Kashimo's cursed energy trait and cursed technique could utterly overwhelm him.

Lightning would identify Toji Fushiguro as an "inanimate object" or a "structure."

Against the Heavenly Restriction Tyrant, who had no cursed energy to resist it, even the most basic injection of lightning cursed energy would deal several times the damage it would inflict on an ordinary sorcerer...

Thus, there was no question.

Hajime Kashimo countered the Heavenly Restriction Tyrant.

That was also why he dared to protect Ogami right in front of Toji Fushiguro.

"Have you always been this impulsive?"

Seeing Toji Fushiguro take up a fighting stance again, Hajime Kashimo gave a wry chuckle and flashed in front of him.

A whip kick and a straight punch came at once. Though Toji Fushiguro tracked the attacks with the Heavenly Restriction Tyrant's extraordinary reflexes and speed, he did not dare meet them head-on with his fists or body.

He could only dodge sideways, trying to find a weapon nearby that would let him attack Hajime Kashimo from a distance...

As long as I get a weapon... As long as I get a weapon...

I can turn this around and kill him!!!

"Dream on!"

The Iron Staff swung in a blur, erupting with powerful electrical arcs. Hajime Kashimo did not even need to land a direct hit. The lightning discharged from the Iron Staff alone had already slowed Toji Fushiguro considerably, paralyzing his body with electric shocks.

His mind was clear, and his brain had perfectly anticipated his opponent's movements.

But he could not muster even a little strength in his hands or feet.

That was the predicament Toji Fushiguro now faced...

"Since you can't move, why not hear me out?"

Electric light coiled around Hajime Kashimo's entire body. Maintaining the outward flow of his lightning cursed energy, he used the Iron Staff and his limbs to seal off Toji Fushiguro's movements, finally securing a chance to talk.

Though he saw the disdain on the other man's face, Hajime Kashimo's very first words caused Toji Fushiguro's expression to change dramatically:

"Megumi has the same surname as you."

Ogami's palms met with a crisp clap. As Hajime Kashimo spoke, she performed her technique and summoned Toji Fushiguro's soul information as well.

If the Séance Technique summoned only the body, then once the caster was killed and its nominal controller disappeared, the person whose body had been summoned would become a "puppet" driven by that body's instincts.

In the previous life, Toji Fushiguro had gone berserk precisely because he killed Ogami, leading to the series of incidents that followed...

In this life, however, Toji now possessed both his body and soul. Even if he killed Ogami again, his consciousness would not so easily run out of control.

Simply put, with both his body and soul information summoned, Toji-

Had been reborn...

"This is a binding vow, and a deal."

"I can act as your guarantor and have your life spared once Satoru Gojo is unsealed, keeping you out of prison."

"But in exchange, you'll join Jujutsu High and serve Tokyo Jujutsu High from now on."

"As for your grandson... he brought that on himself."

On the helipad, the night wind tousled all three of their hair.

Toji Fushiguro watched coldly as the trembling Ogami entered into a binding vow with Hajime Kashimo. Only the words the other man had just spoken remained in his mind...

[Megumi has your surname now.]

A gentle, black-haired figure kept flashing before his eyes. The memories that had flashed through his mind before Satoru Gojo killed him played out once again...

Toji Fushiguro clenched his fists. For the first time, he restrained his instinctive killing intent.

"Throwing away even your dignity to stay alive. Pathetic."

Toji Fushiguro spat to the side in disgust. Now, the only way he could vent his anger was to wound and disparage Ogami with words.

But his barbed remarks might as well have fallen on deaf ears. Provoking two top-tier powerhouses at once, on top of learning that Satoru Gojo would definitely return, had brought her to the brink of physical and mental collapse. She had lost her soul...

Now, to prolong her old life, Ogami had utterly abandoned her so-called "character" and "dignity."

And the additional price-

Was her grandson's soul and body.